When Viktor Hovland won the 2023 Tour Championship, you would have got incredible odds on the Norwegian going without another victory on the PGA Tour until the 2025 Valspar Championship.
It is easy to forget now that Viktor Hovland was arguably the best player on the planet towards the end of the 2023, as he won two FedEx Cup playoff events before playing a starring role as Europe regained the Ryder Cup in Rome.
But the last 18 months have been far from easy for the 27-year-old.
Hovland missed three of the four cuts at the majors in 2024, while he went into the Valspar Championship still awaiting his first top 10 on the PGA Tour this year.
What Viktor Hovland did on the range after shooting 80 at the Players Championship
In fact, he missed three cuts in a row – culminating in a nightmare start to the Players Championship in which he shot 80 in the opening round. Unsurprisingly, he was unable to make the cut at TPC Sawgrass, despite a 68 on Friday.
And it seems that the 12-shot improvement can partly be put down to the amount of time Hovland put in on the range on Thursday evening.
Speaking to Golf Channel, Joel Beall shared what so many do not realise about Hovland as he explained how hard he was working the week before his win at the Valspar.
“Honestly though, I think we’re missing sight if we focus through the prism of the Masters on Hovland. I was lucky enough last Thursday night, I had walked out to watch some of the afternoon wave at the Players and I caught Viktor at the players’ end of the range at Sawgrass – it’s sort of hidden from the public – and Hovland had what felt like a basketball team surrounding him, trying to figure out any stopgap, and I think he had just shot 80 in that first round, it felt like the low point of the past 17, 18 months of struggles for him. He was just pounding driver after driver, and an hour later he was still there, trying to chase that demon only he could see,” he said.
“And the reason I bring this up is that if you’ve been to a tour event in the past two years, that sight has been very common. Hovland’s just been working and working and working, and whatever struggles he had, they’re certainly not a byproduct of a lack of trying. In fact, you talk to some guys that think that’s exactly the problem, right: ‘he’s trying to tinker too much. He was already a top three player at the end of 2023, why was he messing with it?’ I just think that’s missing the point that the reason that makes this guy so good is the constant pursuit of improvement for him.”
How Rory McIlroy reacted when Hovland shot 61 to win the BMW Championship
It is surprising that Hovland has only registered four top 10s in the majors in the early stages of his career. He certainly has the game to win several in the years to come.
One of his most impressive rounds came back in 2023 when he posted a 61 on Sunday to win the BMW Championship.
It was Rory McIlroy who was playing alongside Hovland that day. And speaking in comments reported by Sky Sports, the Northern Irishman explained how he was blown away his fellow European’s performance.
“I felt like I played very average out there next to Viktor,” McIlroy said. “He played amazing. I was marking his card in there and I’m like, ‘oh, you only made one four on the back nine, the rest threes’, so it adds up to a nice little 28 for him. It was great to see. He played great. I sort of realised around like 14, 15 something pretty special was happening.”
Hovland would probably be the first to tell you that he remains some way off being that player despite his win, but there is no question that the potential when it does click again is scary.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
